Showered with Parenting
by millstone1005
Summary: [One shot] A little missing parenting from 1.25 ‘The Shower’.


Title: Showered with Parenting

Summary: A little missing parenting from 1.25 'The Shower'.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to _The O.C_. No profit is taken from this story.

Author's Notes: This takes place during_ The Shower _near the end, right after the scene where Ryan brings Theresa home to stay for a while.

* * *

After Kirsten took Theresa out to the pool house to get her settled in, Ryan walked down the steps to join Sandy. He looked at him a little sheepishly. He was worried that Sandy would be angry about how he didn't do what he told him to do in the country club parking lot.

_"Thanks -- for doing this."_

"Kirsten and I would do anything for you, you know that."

"Yeah, me too."

Sandy put his arm around Ryan and started walking them in the direction of the stairs. "Well, I'm glad to hear it, because we lost the pump, so somebody's gonna have to blow that sucker up."

After sharing a little bit of a smile and laugh with Sandy about that, Ryan got serious. He stopped walking, turned to face Sandy, and looked directly into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, you know, about how I acted, earlier."

Sandy patted Ryan on the upper arm and gestured towards the living room. "Let's sit down for a minute."

Ryan followed Sandy over to the couches. Sandy sat down on the one facing the door, and Ryan sat down across from him, on the couch facing the back yard. He waited anxiously to hear what Sandy would say about his behavior today.

"Ryan. While I wish you had done what I told you in the first place, I am glad that you finally listened to me. What changed your mind?"

Ryan took a deep breath. "Well, I started to drive to Chino, and I was alone there in the car all that time –"

"How much time? How far did you get?"

"Corona."

"Corona. That's what? 35, 45 minutes?"

"Um, yeah, about that." Sandy just nodded, so Ryan continued. "So, yeah, I was driving on the highway, and thought about what you said. After a while I realized that you were right. Me going to... um... _talk_ to Eddie wouldn't change anything. People like that don't change."

Ryan paused, lost in thought for a moment about all the people, all the _men_, that he'd known over the years that convinced him that was true.

"Ryan?"

Ryan looked back up at Sandy. He looked worried. "Sorry... So, yeah, at Corona, I turned around –"

Sandy interrupted him. "You could have called."

Ryan looked at Sandy, confused, not knowing exactly what he meant, who he meant that Ryan could have called.

"When you changed your mind in Corona, I wish you would have called me and told me. I was worried, Ryan. I was convinced that you were on your way back to juvie."

_Oh_. "Sorry."

Ryan looked down and played with his hands. It never crossed his mind to call Sandy. Even after all this time with the Cohens, he still wasn't completely used to having people who worried about him. Ryan looked back up when he heard Sandy sigh.

"So, you turned around and went to see Theresa?"

"Yeah. I went to her hotel." Ryan leaned forward and looked at Sandy for a moment. "I know you wanted me to do nothing, but I couldn't just do _nothing_. I _had_ to take one more shot at convincing her not to go back to him."

"That's OK, Ryan." Sandy turned around briefly to look in the direction of the pool house, then turned back to Ryan. "It looks like you succeeded."

Ryan smiled a little. "Yeah. I guess I finally got through to her. But it wouldn't have worked if I hadn't been able to bring her back here. Thanks, again."

Sandy smiled back. "You're welcome."

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Ryan looked down at the floor. Sandy got up and moved over to sit next to Ryan. He put his arm around his shoulder.

"You know I'm just trying to look out for you, right? Because I care about you and don't want to see you get yourself into trouble, or hurt."

"I know."

Sandy tried to lighten the mood a little. He said, half-jokingly. "Good. So maybe we've learned something here today? Maybe next time you'll just do what I tell you in the first place? I do know what I'm talking about. Most of the time."

Ryan picked up the joking. He looked up and over at Sandy and gave him a half-smile. "Maybe."

Sandy smiled back at Ryan, then patted him on the shoulder and got up and headed for the kitchen.

Ryan watched him go, then sat back on the couch and sighed. That wasn't too bad. Times like these were why he wanted to stay here in the first place. It was really nice to have good people who acted like real parents to him: worried about him, cared about him, tried to keep him from getting himself into trouble. Being here lets him be a kid for a little while longer.

* * *

**The End**


End file.
